Carina
by Caz251
Summary: Series Au: When ex-DEA Agent Carina Miller, now working at the Buy More, gets an email from an old friend, CIA Agent Sarah Walker she doesn't realise how much her life is about to change. Enter CIA Agent Bryce Larkin and NSA Agent Charles Bartowski, her life will never be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

Chuck nodded to the general as she give him his orders, his latest mission really wasn't what he had expected, but then again, days before he hadn't expected to be chasing down and killing one of the CIA's best agents. Then again 'Sarah', the alias she was using at the time, had gone rogue and stole the secrets of both the CIA and NSA, and it wouldn't have been fair to leave it to her partner to take her out, especially as they weren't completely sure of his loyalties.

'Sarah', had uploaded all the secrets to a mobile device before destroying the Intersect computer and going on the run. Chuck had caught her, but not before she had managed to jeopardise national security by sending them off to as an email to someone called Carina. Chuck was good at what he does though and although the device had burnt out he still managed to get a lingering trace which allowed him a general area to search for 'Carina'. She turned out to be an ex-DEA Agent who had worked with 'Sarah' in the past. 'Carina Miller' had been rising very quickly within the ranks of the DEA, but was unceremoniously thrown out not long after a mission with 'Sarah' with no real explanation as to why.

She had then settled in LA, Burbank California to be exact, something that Chuck didn't know whether to be glad of or not. Looking at where the woman now worked, a huge change in career from government agent to electronics saleswoman, the Buy More, he knew that it was unavoidable that they would know some of the same people, probably a lot of the same people. The good thing about her location meant that once he had everything squared away and the Intersect back in DC he could hopefully take a few days to spend with sister Ellie and her Awesome boyfriend Devon.

Chuck stared at the car that he was ramming backwards down a street, or rather at the driver, CIA Agent Bryce Larkin, and in that moment he was almost taken back to his time at Stanford and Bumper Cars. He could tell that he was sporting a grin at the thought, and looking at Bryce through the two windscreens he could tell that the other man had had the same thought, a grin trying to twitch its way onto his mouth even as he tried to evade him. Chuck usually wasn't as aggressive with a vehicle, but he was not in the mood to play around, he had sent in a couple of men to bring the woman to him and Bryce had dispatched them all easily.

It wasn't something that he hadn't really expected, he knew how good Bryce was at his job, at everything really, the other man had always been an overachiever, but it had made his evening longer. By the time Chuck found himself on the roof of a building with Bryce and Carina he was in the mood just to shoot someone, probably Bryce as the other man had just taken out the front of his agency issued car, something the General would take out on him as he didn't have a great track record when it came to cars. He was hoping that things would go smoothly for once the woman handing over the Intersect and allowing them to all go home for the evening. Unfortunately that just wasn't the case.

She hadn't backed the email up, which was good in that it meant there wasn't any copy of their secrets just lying about, but her computer had been destroyed thanks to Bryce and as a result the Intersect was gone, or so he had thought at first. The dawning realisation that had come to both him and Bryce almost at the same time as Carina started talking about things that there was no way she should know, even as an ex-DEA Agent. They stared first at the woman, then each other, then the hotel opposite them in a semi surprised horror. If she had uploaded the Intersect into her brain then that hotel was going to be blown up, if not she had some really scary intel that she shouldn't have, was probably working with terrorists and the hotel was still going to blow up.

Chuck shared a quick look with Bryce as they stared at the bomb, a huge chunk of C4 attached to a prism laptop. They both knew what it was how much damage it could do, but neither of them had much of an idea of how to stop it. Using a DOS override in the laptop would give them a chance to try and shut the computer off, but would that trigger the bomb they had no idea. They tried the DOS override, only to then be pushed aside by Carina, terrorist was looking more and more an option, who opened the internet, all the while talking to 'Mr. Bomb' introducing it to 'Mr. Internet' and firing up a porn website. Bryce looked at him in disbelief, and Chuck could still read him clearly just he had done back in college. Chuck just shrugged, he didn't know, if he was about to die he certainly wouldn't have spent his last minutes on Irene Demova's site, but it certainly provided some more information about Carina to them, perhaps she and 'Sarah' had been close and that was why the woman sent her the Intersect in the first place.

Chuck caught Bryce's eye just before the bomb would explode, having semi-accepted their fate, saying everything he needed to with one look, getting the same one in return. Then the laptop seemed to shut off and Carina sat back on her heels a satisfied look on her face. "Computer virus. Heard the geeks talking about it this morning."

Crisis averted it was time to return to the main problem at hand, both Chuck and Bryce had intended to take Carina with them and neither seemed completely willing to surrender to the other, not professionally at least. In the end after discussion with both their superiors it was decided that for now Carina would be allowed to continue her life as it was, and he and Bryce would be on hand to protect her and deal with any threats to national security that they were alerted to by the Intersect.

Turning up unexpected to dinner at his sisters he was the one to get the shock, it hadn't really caught his notice when he had been researching Carina, but the fact that she was living with his sister and her boyfriend really should have caught his attention. Explaining to Ellie that he was going to be in town for quite a while was interesting to say the least, she knew that he was NSA, but as far as she was concerned he was just an analyst. He had explained that he had some leave that he was taking and was spending in Burbank to be close to her, and that he was then going to be working from home for the most part for a while. She had been ecstatic, but at the same time worried as she had given away his room in a sense. He had just smiled, explaining that he was going to be sharing an apartment with a friend and not to worry about it, he didn't think that he would explain to her that evening that Bryce was in town as well and would be for the foreseeable future, he could wait until tomorrow to tell her that.


	2. Chapter 2

"So what exactly is the plan here?" Carina asked, "Am I meant to just play nice for the government again after everything that happened?"

Chuck sighed, he had read her file and she certainly had the grounds to be pissed off at the government. She had been the best her agency had, but they had practically thrown her to the wayside on Sarah's word alone. He had also heard people talk of her in the field and she was certainly no normal asset that they had been sent to protect. And that was without the super computer in her brain.

"You'll work with us, and we will protect you, or protect you as much as necessary, we are aware of your skills. At the same time we'll be working to get the Intersect out of your head." Chuck replied.

Bryce then decided to speak up, "We both know what you are capable of and the three of us could make a great team. But we also know about your restlessness and your improvisation, you need to curb those and work with us."

Carina glared at him for a moment before relenting. "Fine. What's the cover? What are we telling Ellie and Awesome?"

"Nothing if we can help it, I've tried to keep my sister and friends out of this side of my life as much as possible." Chuck replied. "They know that I work for the government as an analyst, but that is it, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"They know I am ex-government, not what I did, but know that I was forced out due to Sarah." Carina informed them, knowing they needed to know some of the details of her life there lest they compromise it. She had come to enjoy her simple life here. It wasn't the exciting life she had led before, but the friends that she had made, actually genuinely liked her and she them.

"Tell them nothing. It's safer for them." Bryce commented, Chuck nodding in agreement.

Carina stared at the agents in front of her, trying to figure them out. There was something about the two of them that she wasn't seeing, they were a bit too comfortable with each other for spies from rival agencies.

"Anyway, we'll be moving in here as roommates, and I'll be working from home as an analyst. That will get boring pretty quickly though so I will pick up a few shifts a week at the Nerd Herd to do a bit of socialising. It will just happen to be the same shifts you are on." Chuck continued to discuss their cover.

Carina snorted, "Don't show think Ellie is going to be suspicious of you moving in with a man that she has never heard of or met? And what are you going to be doing all day Agent Larkin?"

"I don't think Ellie will have a problem, we have previous, we were roommates at Stanford." Bryce stated. "I've been looking to find somewhere to stay in Burbank for a while because of a new business opportunity, so when Chuck mentioned that he was heading home for a bit I suggested we share."

"You two were roommates?" Carina asked, she had not expected that, they were almost polar opposites of each other.

"Frat brothers." Bryce replied before going on to explain that he would spend the time that she was working across the mall at the new place that was opening Super Byte an internet gaming cafe that actually sold food.

"Don't you think you should be heading to work?" Chuck asked Carina. "Bryce will be around if you need him and I will only be a phone call away if you need me."

"What will you be doing today then?" Carina asked.

"Explaining the situation to my sister and starting the arrangements to bring a doctor in to see about removing the intersect." Chuck replied.

Carina left the apartment, Bryce following mere minutes later, leaving Chuck alone. Almost as soon as the door closed behind Bryce the screen on Chuck's laptop came on showing the interior of an office with a stern looking woman sat behind the desk that dominated the image.

"General Beckman" Chuck greeted her, "What can I do for you?"

"Is the surveillance in place Agent Bartowski?" The General questioned.

"Mostly Ma'am." He replied, "The Buy More and the assets car and phone are covered, I intend to set up surveillance on her residence this morning."

"Good. Dr. Zarnow will be with you in two days Agent Bartowski. In the meantime keep an eye on the asset and one on Larkin. Until we know how deeply Larkin was involved with Walker's treachery I want him watched."

"Yes Ma'am." Chuck replied and suddenly the screen went blank.

Chuck sighed, the next few days were looking as though they were going to be fun. He had to bug his sister's apartment, something that she would kill him for if she ever found out, then he had to explain his and Bryce's living situation. He then had to deal with the ex-DEA wildcard whilst keeping an eye on his CIA partner for any hint of treason. As soon as this was over he was putting in for the leave that he had been intending to take for a while.


End file.
